NATCHEZ — When John Bell of Natchez Manor heard his dish at the Innkeeper Breakfast Cook-off Competition was awarded 135 out of a possible 150 points, he literally fell on the floor.

Of course, Bell was pleased to hear his dish was well received by the judging panel, but his reaction came after hearing his dish was edged out by half a point for the top spot in the Iron Chef style contest.

“I should have added one more blueberry,” he said. “Just one more would have done it.”

The cook-off was part of the Louisiana/Mississippi Bed & Breakfast Associations Annual Conference which was in Natchez from Sunday through Wednesday. Innkeepers had one hour to prepare, plate and present their signature breakfast dish.

Bell prepared a savory waffle with spinach, egg whites and onions, which he paired with a black bean puree and a blueberry reduction. The dish appears weekly at Natchez Manor as part of the Sunday brunch menu.

But even before the judges tasted his dish, Bell was getting rave reviews from the audience. His workstation had a steady crowd of onlookers as he wiped away the excess blueberry sauce before taking his plates to the judges table.

“I think it is the color that attracted them,” he said. “People eat with their eyes.”

Bell’s dish took second place to the signature dish from the Fairview Inn in Jackson — eggs Fairview. The dish is an interpretation of eggs Benedict. A poached egg is served atop a cake of deep-fried grits and topped with a cheese sauce and served with fried shoe-string potatoes.

“We prepare this every Sunday so we are used to that,” Fairview Inn chef Sabrina Errecalde said. “But the challenge here was not having my own equipment.”

The third place winner was the blueberry and peach crinkle from Fairfield Place Bed & Breakfast in Shreveport, La.

Contestants provided a recipe for their dish to event organizers and were provided the ingredients, a single cooking burner and access to the ovens at the Natchez Convention Center.

“At the inn I have a bigger deep fryer and that makes things easier for the grits,” Errecalde said.

Since the ingredients were being provided, Ron and Eleanor Fry from Devereaux Shields Bed & Breakfast in Natchez arrived a few minutes early just to make sure everything was in order. And it was a good thing they did.

“One ingredient was missing, but we ran to the store and picked it up,” she said. “No big deal.”

The Frys prepared a nestled egg dish. For the dish a ramekin is sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and lined with deli slice ham. The ham is then topped with Swiss cheese, cream and duxelles and one egg. The dish is then baked for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then the ham cup is removed from the ramekin and served on top of toasted bread.

“You have to watch it,” Ron said. “A baked egg can overcook really fast.”

But watching the dish in the oven proved to be more difficult at the convention center than in their normal kitchen.

“The stove was way up here,” Eleanor said motioning with her hand at eye-level. “The ladies from Dunleith were asking if I could see their dish.”

The Frys prepare the dish often for smaller crowds of guests — only partially because of the labor intensive nature of the dish.

“And I only have eight ramekins,” she said.

Judge Robert St. John, a nationally-known chef, food writer and restaurateur from Hattiesburg, said the points-based system was the fairest way to judge the dishes since they were all good.

“If you had told me to just pick one, I could not have done that,” he said. “I love to eat, and it was all great stuff.”